Sictal Deathmoon
Master Sictal Deathmoon was an undead of great renown, for he had served under lord Grekhan Highstrider in the Order of Assassins, and as his personal advisor as well. He had trained many followers to himself, but most of them have died in the purging of the Order, or by Grekhan's hand. He was perhaps one of the most deadliest and skilled warlock and assassin that has ever tread this world. Appearance Master Sictal Deathmoon has been described by only his apprentices, for they are the only ones to have seen him outside of combat and without armours, apart from lord Grekhan Highstrider. One of the most recent descriptions has been written by one of his elven apprentices, Raztheras Deathstrider: "Master looks like a normal, harmless forsaken like every else, when he is hidden beneath his battle-robe, but under this all dwells a being so foul and corrupted, yet so noble and righteous, that I do not even dare to write of it..." There is another description left to our days, that tells us more of what he looked like. This one has been written by his only human apprentice, Abalardo Deathmoon: "The old fool seems to have gone through quite a lot... With his armours, he looks like an assassin, hidden beneath his mask. Bit without them, the age and the wounds are revealed. He has several scars across his body, probably from fights with this Grand Master he keeps talking about... He has a great burned wound on the left side of his chest, but he has never spoken of it. Not even in the silence of the crypt, has he ever mentioned anything about his wounds." Background Master Sictal Deathmoon, named Nigidous Kartinger back on his birth, was born long before the First War. He spent much time with his family. The Kartinger family moved to Lordaeron, and followed the movement towards what is now known as the Plaguelands. They settled in an area, that was later to become Darrowshire. When young Nigidous reached the age of twenty, he fell hopelessly in love with a woman paladin, named Sóren Brightheart. She was sent to Darrowshire by the knights of the Silver Hand, to recruit more men and women to their ranks. After three years, Nigidous and Sóren married, and moved away from Darrowshire, to Hearthglen. There they lived happily, soon settling down to their new home, and raising their family. They had two childs: Ephrail and Elisabeth Kartinger. Years passed, and Nigidous' mother died, and soon after his father moved to Hearthglen, and joined the military units, rising quickly in ranks. Five years after this, when Nigidous was at the age of fourtysix, Hearthglen was attacked by an army of undeads. The town held their line valiantly against the hordes of undead, but eventually fell. Nigidous' father was as well killed in this attack, and that drove the young battle-mage out of hiding. Nigidous trusted that the three years of training in the arcane arts would give him the upper hand in the fight, and he swore to hunt down the necromancer behind the attack. It turned out to be, that the undeads were no Scourge, but the mindless slaves of lord Grekhan Highstrider. Grekhan had no troubles in defeating the foolish battle-mage, and he mercilessly killed him, soon after raising him as an undead, completely under his command. That night, Nigidous Kartinger was slain, and Sictal Deathmoon had born. Grekhan gave Sictal his name, and set him to his first task: To kill his own family, so that no Deathmoons would follow Sictal. He had no choice but to obey, and he mercilessly stormed into his own house, and slaughtered his wife to the door, and caught his children, slicing his daughters throat open, and slamming his son to the ground, thinking that he had died. This proved out to be a mistake, as Ephrail did survive the attack. After at least seemingly killing his family, Sictal returned to Grekhan, and pledged himself to him. At this point, Grekhan revealed that the whole attack was a plan to lure Sictal out, and to make him serve Grekhan. Sictal was of course furious, but was under the mind-control of Grekhan, thus being unable to do anything. During the next fifty years, Grekhan trained Sictal in the silent arts of assassination, and Sictal used all his rage, created by Grekhan's cruelty, to further train himself as a battle-mage. After a while, Sictal realised he could be used more in the Dark Arts, and so he became a warlock, learning about shadowy magic, but still he was able to control the chaotic element of fire. After those fifty years, Sictal had became Grekhan's best student, outsmarting every other student. Sictal was put to test, as he was sent to various suicide missions, which he completed with honour. Soon after Sictal became Grekhan's personal assassin, as well as his advisor. After his tests, he was sent to a real mission: They were to assault Silvermoon City with the rest of the Assassins, and wreak havoc by killing Lor'themar Theron. Sictal was sent to scout the area, and as well close every exit in the city. He spent three days in the city, slowly building the trap to the elves, but during those three days, Grekhan's control over him diminished. At the third day, in the hour of the attack, Sictal had already formed another plan to ensure their survival. At the time Grekhan and the other assassins arrived, Sictal was already standing amongst the elves, ready to take down everyone that stood against him and his newfound goal to kill Grekhan at all costs. The elves of the Silvermoon City were able to take down Grekhan's assassins with raw manpower, and Sictal took the fight to Grekhan. They fought for a long time, but eventually, the master prevailed, and Sictal was left badly wounded to die outside Silvermoon. That is were the elves found him, and nursed him back to health, partly thankful for his turncoat, and partly angry to him for closing off all remaining exits. During the following years, Sictal trained himself further in the Dark Arts, becoming ever more deadly and corrupted as his studies took him deep into long-forgotten secrets. He fought with Grekhan and his additional assassins several times, and he was taking his part in the purgation of the Order, personally hunting down and eliminating the assassins that were well trained. After seventy years of servitude to Grekhan, Horde and several other factions, Sictal finally disappeared, drawing Grekhan's attention. In the following thirty years, Sictal gathered followers to himself, training them as assassins and warlocks, to follow the Deathmoon line. Few names of these apprentices are known, but only one of them is still alive. Sictal's grave can be found in the Eastern Plaguelands, in the ruins of the Scarlet Enclave, outside the crypt of the Forgotten. It is said that Sictal took his own life, but this was heard from a Deathmoon, and as we know, Deathmoons can't be trusted. Personality Nigidous Kartinger was a warm-hearted and friendly battle-mage, fully devoted to his family. He was quite useless in combat, as he had never fought anyone. Sictal, on the other hand, was cold, calculating and cruel, as he was trained to be. Some say he was heartless, but this is not so. He followed the Honor Code of the Order even after leaving the servitude of lord Grekhan Highstrider. In combat Sictal relied heavily on his skills with melee weapons, as he commanded a vast arsenal of swords, daggers and staves. He often accompanied his weapons with his dark and painful magic, designed on purpose to cause great agony in the target, or weaken him or her greatly. Sometimes it has been seen that Sictal has finished his opponents quickly, but it was not completely unknown for him to leave them to suffer in pain, drained of their powers. Quotes -"What you can't understand, is what you fear. And what you fear, you try to fight. And as you fight, you realise it is all in vain, because you are too afraid to continue, since you do not understand. The circle cannot be broken." -"What makes me like one of them? What makes me a better being than you, Grekhan? It's because I know what I fight for, and I already have died for it." -"You've created a monster, Grekhan. But this monster still has some tricks left up his sleeve!" -"Uh-oh. It seems my sleeve has burned. Oh dear..." -"Come now... It won't hurt. At least much...Well, to be perfectly honest, I will perhaps tear a limb of yours off. But as we all know, I am Deathmoon not only by name, but by nature as well, and Deathmoons can't be trusted. So you just sit tight and enjoy..." Category:Characters